X-Message-Number: 9222
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 04:53:07 -0800
From: Paul Wakfer <>
Subject: Re: CryoNet #9214 - #9221
References: <>

In Message #9220, on Fri, 27 Feb 1998 22:37:14, Charles Platt wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Feb 1998, Paul Wakfer wrote:
>

> > executed for expediency and better interface with the establishment 
university research

> > institute where it is being conducted, by an already approved 501(c)(3) 
corporation called
> > the Institute Of Neural Cryobiology (IONC).
>
> I assume the purpose of a 501(c)3 entity is to avoid taxes. Therefore, my
> question about taxes was relevant.


Charles, I am certain that you are an intelligent and perceptive man (at least, 
I was), so I do

not understand what you are trying to accomplish here. You must know very well, 
that whatever

entity executes the Prometheus Project research will not pay any taxes for *20 
years*

automatically because it will have no net income after research expenses are 
deducted (if indeed

it has any "income" in the technical sense at all). This will be true whether 
the the organization

is a for-profit corporation, not-for-profit corporation (with or without 
501(c)(3)), partnership,

limited liability corporation, sole proprietorship, statutory trust, common-law 
trust,  church, or

private individual (did I miss any?). The purpose of a 501(c)(3) (BTW, this is 
the official

bracketing used by the IRS) entity, is to be able to give receipts for donations
which the donor
may be able to deduct from his or her taxable income.


But, I will go further in amplifying my explanation of the phrase "expediency 
and better
interface".

Expediency:

While the Full Length Life Society (FLLS) will carry on its existence, mission 
and 501(c)(3)

application, in order to assuage the concerns of the potential donors to the 
hippocampal brain

slice project (HBSP) that they are *certain* to end up with a tax deductible 
receipt, once I

realized that IONC was already 501(c)(3) approved, I decided to take up Thomas' 
offer to use it.

(This should not have been a concern to any trusting donor, first of all because
one does not

include ones tax receipt with one's tax return, but only needs to have it to 
produce if one is

audited and secondly because I had stated to all of them that I would 
*guarantee* the tax

deductibility of their donation. By this last, I meant that *if* they did not 
get a valid receipt,

and *if* they got audited, *then* I personally would pay all costs that there 
not having a valid
receipt would incur.)

Better interface:

The entity which is relating to the University Research Institute (URI) must not
have any possible

connection to cryonics or even suspended animation for the purposes of living a 
normal lifetime.

This is a mandatory requirement by the research professor of pathology who will 
make available the

funding from the URI. Even the name FLLS was problematic in this respect, and I 
was planning on

using another DBA name for the interface. IONC, however, solves the problem both
with its name and

the purposes enshrined in its bylaws which describe it as an organization 
supporting all possible

kinds of work relating to cryopreserving neural tissue for all possible 
purposes. All the types of

work and purposes are listed, however, no mention is made of *anything* which 
sounds like cryonics

or suspended animation. I believe this is the perfect vehicle to begin and to 
carry on, if that

turns out to be feasible, a connection with URI. Furthermore, I believe that 
there is a very good

chance to obtain monetary support for its research goals from various 
individuals, and even

foundations which wish to support neuroscience and neuromedical research, but 
would never in their

wildest dreams want to support cryonics or suspended animation research. As soon
as we get the

HBSP started, I intend to promote IONC completely separate from Prometheus or 
cryonics, with those

very goals in mind. IONC will have its own web site with no links whatsoever to 
anything related

to Prometheus or cryonics or life-extension (although these are welcome to link 
to it).

> I note that you have not really
> answered my general question, as to whether you are relying on the
> "Trust in God's Law!" Hardy twins for legal advice. Are you?


Charles, I thought by now that you knew that I rely solely on MY OWN judgment 
for everything.
Isn't that what you constantly criticize me for? :-)


> > Charles, if you are not happy being a pledger for whatever reason, you are 
free to
> > withdraw your pledge with my "blessing" at any time.
>
> I thought I put my $10,000 pledge on hold a few months ago.


Unless I misunderstood, all that you said was that you were not putting any of 
it into the HBSP.

Many pledgers are also not doing so and that is entirely their prerogative since
the conditions

under which they made the pledge have not yet been met. Certainly, they are 
*not* met by the HBSP.

On the other hand, there is one donation to the HBSP from someone who is not a 
pledger to PP. This

current project is a beginning to the greater body of research, but otherwise it
is really quite
distinct.


I will take it that this latest information from you means that you are not now 
a pledger and I
will take you off the list.

> I regret that
> I don't have a lot of confidence in your Project right now, although of
> course circumstances may change.


I think that you are forgetting that it is a fully conditional pledge that only 
requires approval

(and confidence) at the time the conditions are met. The pledges are meant not 
as a statement that

"everything looks great right now",  but as a statement that "if everything does
eventually look

great, this is the amount of money which I would contribute". I guess very few 
have ever really

understood that. Perhaps that is why the pledges have been so few and far 
between.Frankly, because

so much has changed with regard to the potential plans of who would do the work 
and how it would

operate, that I don't have that much confidence in its viable continuation at 
this moment. The

worst of these changes is that although I wrote in Cryomsg # 8415 on July 22, 
1997:


"I would like to see at least *another* $100,000 added to this pilot project 
fund not only for its

execution, but to finance the full-time participation of the cryobiologist in 
the Prometheus
Project and the initiation of detailed planning efforts for it."


and at that time this full-time participation was agreed to and eagerly sought 
by those with whom

I was working to get Greg Fahy located in Southern California fulltime, this is 
no longer the

case. It is my understanding that Greg has or will soon sign an employment 
contract with 21CM

which will not allow him to consult for any other research entity doing similar 
work (a

competitor, to use the terminology of 21CM). This employment contract will 
formally preclude Greg
from being the Director of Research for the Prometheus Project.


I *am* intent on carrying on this year while the HBSP takes place (on which Greg
is being

"allowed" to work under very special arrangements, if we can reach agreement on 
those

arrangements) doing what I can to produce its natural continuation and finding 
out if there is

some reasonable way for this to happen and eventually become the full-fledged 
research effort that

was originally planned for Prometheus. In any case, even if research cannot be 
carried on beyond

this year by any entity with which I am related, I personally plan to carry on 
promoting suspended

animation research and its revolutionary applications to the best of my ability 
until it is
accomplished.

> My interest in research remains as strong
> as ever.


I am glad to here that. I am sure that 21CM can make use of your writing skills.

> The hippocampal brain slice project is really quite exciting,


Yes, I think that it is *very* exciting. To quote Peter Gouras an eye/vision 
research scientist,

donor and Director of IONC (it's from a private communication, but I don't think
he will mind),
"it is absolutely first rate."

> but I can't help feeling uneasy about the way your Project is run, so
> long as people such as Hardy&Hardy are playing a significant role.


I believe that you and others have quite insufficient grounds for such a 
judgment.However, I have

bowed to the reality of people's fear of the strange, different and unknown. 
Allen and Loren Hardy

no longer have any special role with Prometheus beyond being the pledgers they 
have been since

1996. They remain my friends and confidants. If you wish to judge me by that, so
be it.


-- Paul --

 Voice/Fax: 909-481-9620 Page: 800-805-2870
The Prometheus Project -- http://prometheus.morelife.org
Perfected Suspended Animation for Patient Stabilization
until Cures for Their Terminal Diseases are Available

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